The Relics of Awakening
by BipolarBagel
Summary: Part 1 of a series of fanfictions I plan on creating.    Relics of Awakening: Zelda has fallen mysteriously ill, and Link will have to race against time in order to save her. Will Link be able to find the cure in time?    This is my first fic, enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**The Relics of Awakening**

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Hello everyone. I'm new to the site and this is my first fanfic ever. I hope you'll like it. I'll try to keep the updates fairly regular but I'm a huge procrastinator so no promises :P

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**Chapter 1**

The warm, summer sun shone brightly over Hyrule Field, the grass still wet from the previous night's rain. Ripe fruit filled the trees, harvesting season was almost here. Link picked a big red apple from a tall tree. He sat in the wet grass beneath the tree, water still dripping from its branches and occasionally falling on Link. He didn't mind; however, as he leisurely bit into the apple. It was sweet and juicy. The master sword and mirror shield lay beside him, in case he dozed off until nightfall and had to fight stalchildren.

He patted Epona, who sat beside him, eating grass. Link yawned and stretched, closing his eyes and sitting down against the tree's trunk. The cool summer breeze blew against his golden hair, refreshing him from the sun's heat. Even under the tree's shade, it was quite hot; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, which only helped to intensify the sun's rays. Link took in a deep breath, enjoying the day.

It had been years since Ganon's defeat. Since then, Link had built a home in Kakariko village, but took usual trips to the castle to visit Zelda. He had kept the master sword in case anything ever happened; however, since Ganon's defeat, peace had been restored to Hyrule, and nothing had happened. Still, Link never let his guard down, and trained every day in order to mantain his skills. Every day, he went through sword exercises, then went to the archery range and practiced his bow. Then, he would go and eat breakfast, and finally, he would practice unarmed combat. After that, he had the whole day for himself, which he usually enjoyed by going out to the castle or Hyrule Field, and relaxing for the rest of they day. Then, just before sunset, he would go back to his home and doze off.

Today after his training, he had decided on going to Hyrule Field and relaxing the whole day. Just as he was about to doze off, he heard loud, running footsteps. He opened his eyes and saw someone running as fast as he could towards him. His face was bright red and covered in sweat, and Link could immediately tell something was wrong. He grabbed his sword and shield and, although he kept his sword in its sheath, he kept his hand on the hilt. "Who are you?" he yelled to the approaching man.

The man stopped just a few feet away from Link, gasping for air. "I… I…" The man gasped, still trying to catch his breath. "It's… th-the princess… She h-has f-f-fallen ill... You must return… to the castle…" Link's eyes went wide in shock at what he heard, but remained calm. Without saying a single word, he jumped on top of Epona and galloped as fast as Epona could towards Hyrule Castle.

Link rode through Hyrule Field faster than he ever had, arriving to Market Town in little over an hour (on a regular day it would have taken him more or less two and a half hours to get there). He went through the gate, slowing down a bit now that he was going inside the town. On a normal day he would dismount Epona and walk towards the castle, leaving her outside of town, but today, he didn't have time to do it, and instead, frightened people had to get out of his way. The big walls that surrounded Market Town where worn down, but solid, even though cracks had begun appearing along it. Guards patrolled the top of the wall, dressed in metal armor, which reflected off the sunlight. Link could never imagine how the guards could endure the heat in their armors, especially now that it was summertime.

Link continued through the winding path towards the castle. The guards already knew him and let him through the gate which led to the castle. At last, he arrived at the entrance to the castle, its massive stone structure towering towards the sky. Massive, stained-glass windows littered the walls, with vines clinging to the walls. The castle's drawbridge stood lowered, covering the small moat that surrounded the castle. Link found it very strange that the drawbridge to the castle was open_;_ he had never seen it that way before. Instead there was always a couple of guards who had to check with the head guard that the person wanting to get in the castle had clearance, before they lowered the drawbridge and allowed him entry.

Link crossed the drawbridge into the main hall. The room was huge, with many big windows to let the sunlight shine through. During night, candles which filled the hall's walls were magically lit to give the room an eerie but beautiful look. Elaborate tapestries decorated the walls, each unique and beautiful, depicting scenes of heroes slaying monsters and rescuing damsels in distress, as well as many Hylian legends. On a regular day, Link would have stopped to admire them, but today, he ran through the hall nonstop. About halfway through, he was met by an old priest with short white hair and a long beard. He was dressed in the usual priest clothing: a long brown robe and sandals. He introduced himself "Ah! Hero of Time, it is an honor. I am Pinkerton, the priest who is taking care of Princess Zelda. I sent a messenger to call you as soon as I sensed something was wrong with the princess. This whole situation is quite stressing for me, as I only began working here at the castle less than a week ago."

The man's voice was anxious and filled with worry, but kind. Link replied "It is an honor to meet you, Mr. Pinkerton. Where is Zelda now? How is she?"

"She is in her room, asleep. No one knows what happened to her. All we know is that yesterday she said she was feeling ill and went to take a nap. She hasn't woken up since then, and that was nearly 24 hours ago. Her breathing is also very shallow." Link began walking in the direction of Zelda's room, with Pinkerton walking besides him. "I fear she may have been poisoned by someone." Pinkerton continued "If that is the case, we will need to find the one responsible and get the cure in order to save the princess."

Link merely kept silent, thinking. They finally arrived at the princess's chamber after having gone through several long hallways and up a flight of stairs. Hyrule castle was like a maze, but Link had been here enough times to know the way to Zelda's room from memory. Link opened the small but ornate door that led to Zelda's room and stepped inside. The room was dark except for a single candle which was on top of a small night table, as the curtains were closed. The room smelled strongly of incense, of the type that was used during prayer. It was likely that Pinkerton had been praying. Zelda lay in her bed, motionless except for her shallow breathing. Pinkerton let out a loud sigh "She's been like that for almost a day, motionless."

Link approached Zelda slowly, staring intently at her motionless form. Pinkerton could not tell how Link felt, as his face showed no emotions. Link stayed silent for almost a minute, only staring at Zelda. Finally, he spoke "How sure are you that she's been poisoned?" he asked Pinkerton.

"I'm pretty sure, I don't know who could have done it, with all the security, but she shows all the usual signs of it."

"If that's true, then we may not have long to find the cure."

"However, we must not give up hope."

Link approached Zelda, and planted a kiss on her forehead "I swear… I'll find the cure and save you… I'll make the one responsible pay for what he did." Link told Zelda. Without another word, Link went out of the room, and out the castle. He knew he had to hurry if he was to save Zelda.

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Well, that was the first chapter. The real story hasn't even started yet, basically I'm still preparing for things to come. This is pretty much just the introductory chapter. Just bear with me for a couple of chapters, I promise it's going to get better soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Relics of Awakening**

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Hello everyone, here's chapter 2, I hope you'll all like it! I made a couple of changes to the story. I've got all of it planned out, and decided to split it into two (maybe three, though it's a big maybe) parts. This first part will have Link looking for a cure and part 2... well, if I tell you, I'll spoil most of the story. Malon won't appear until part two.

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**Chapter 2**

Link rode Epona through Hyrule field, thinking over what had happened. Zelda had been poisoned, but, by whom? He had absolutely no clues as to who could have done it, so he decided that the best place to begin his search would be Kakariko Village. Before half an hour had passed, he had already arrived. He decided to go to his house and get his gear before setting out to investigate.

Kakariko Village had really grown after all those years. Dozens of houses had been built and the village had grown and grown. Now it had everything: houses, hotels, restaurants, and many other things. More than a village, it had now grown into a town, but it was still called Kakariko Village. The buildings were small, but comfortable and nice. Link's house was a small one in a corner of the city. On the outside, the walls were painted a plain white color, with red roof tiles, and it was only one story tall, with a window to the left of the door. On the inside, there were wooden floors and elaborate furniture made of wood. Link opened the door to his house; it was always unlocked, like every house in Kakariko Village. There had never been a single crime here.

Immediately after entering, one was greeted by a spacious room which led to the other parts of the house. There was a small study, with bookshelves filled with books of diverse topics. The kitchen was simple, with nothing but a few cupboards filled with food and a small stove. Water had to be fetched from the well. Besides the kitchen was the dining room, which contained a table with four chairs on top of a beautiful red rug. While Link was usually alone, he had the extra chairs in case he ever had company. Near the dining room was a simple wooden door which led to Link's room. It was the simplest room in the house, with nothing but a small bed and wardrobe which contained his tunics, as well as a set of pajamas and his gear. There was no bathroom in the house, as there were public latrines.

Link quickly went into his bedroom and took out his equipment: his bow and quiver, bomb bag, and longshot. The Ocarina of Time was in his pocket, where he always kept it. He went to his kitchen and opened the cupboards, fitting as many supplies as he could inside his pack. He didn't know how long he would be out, and wanted to be prepared. He packed two canteens filled with water, various fruits, some meat, along with flint and steel in order to make fire, and a sleeping bag. He also packed a couple of magic potions in order to heal himself. As quickly as he had come in, he exited the house.

He decided that the best way to obtain information would be to go to the tavern and try to see if anyone knew anything. He casually entered the bar and ordered a beer, sitting down on a stool in the bar. He hadn't been sitting down for even a minute when he overheard a patron talking to the bartender.

"There's been some strange tales of weird creatures appearing on the trail to Goron City. It seems that something evil has awoken in Death Mountain" the patron said.

Link didn't need to hear anything more than that. He quickly left the tavern without even finishing his beer and headed for the gate that led to Goron City. He found nothing more than the usual tektites, but Link didn't let his guard down, as he didn't want to be caught off-guard.

Just as he was nearing Goron City, dozens of small dragon-like creatures appeared from everywhere, the likes of which Link had never seen before. These creatures looked like dragons, but had no legs, and were as shiny silver color; their eyes a bright red color. He knew he had to act quickly if he was to survive the sudden ambush. He quickly closed his fists and slammed them to the ground, activating Din's Fire. A huge bright flame enveloped the area around Link. Link opened his eyes and was shocked to see that he had caused no damage at all to the creatures. A couple of plants had caught fire, but the creatures were intact. Link didn't know it but these creatures were wyverns, and were immune to fire.

Link went into a fighting stance and unsheathed his sword, readying himself for what he was sure would be a very difficult battle. As a wyvern closed in to attack him, he thrust his sword forward, piercing the wyvern and killing it. Link was relieved to see that they were at least easy to kill with a sword. He quickly slashed at them, killing a couple more of the creatures. Suddenly, a wyvern attacked Link from behind, and Link barely had enough time to hit it with his shield, then slash it with his sword, but not before receiving a nasty bite to the shoulder.

The battle raged on for several minutes, ending in all of the wyverns being slain under Link's sword, and Link receiving several cuts and bites to the arms, but nothing serious. More than anything, he was exhausted, sweat trickling down his face. He walked into Goron City, relieved of having made it in one piece. Mysteriously, however, he found that the city seemed to be empty. He quickly made his way towards Darunia's room, where he found him talking to another Goron. "Everyone has been taken by that cursed dragon… We're the only two remaining." Darunia said, and then he saw Link. "Well, well, if it ain't my sworn brother! This is great timing from yer part!"

"What's the problem? I noticed some strange creatures on my way up, they were immune to my fire spells."

"What ye saw were wyverns, dragon-like creatures. There's a dragon up on Death Mountain, he's taken everyone here. He ain't Volvagia, though, this is something completely new. Ye probably fought 'is hatchlings."

"Ye must help us!" the other Goron said.

"Now, now, Ingorva, calm yerself down, I'm sure our sworn brother 'ere will be glad help." Darunia interrupted.

"Of course I will! Is there anything I should know before confronting the dragon?" Link asked.

"We know almost nothing about the dragon, everyone we've sent to investigate hasn't returned" Darunia said gravely.

"Don't worry, I'll defeat him." Link said with a grin on his face.

"Good luck to ye, brother."

Link set off to Death Mountain, nervous but calm. The wyverns had been tough to beat, so the dragon would probably be much, much tougher. He began on the path that led towards Death Mountain, and was relieved to see that the path was completely clear, with not a single enemy in sight. As he was about halfway through, he discovered some weird rocks. They were gray and small, and he grabbed one of them and found to his surprise that they didn't feel like rocks.

Link examined the rock closely, feeling its weird texture and shuddering slightly from it. It was soft and squishy, and almost seemed to be alive. Link was about to keep going when suddenly the rock began moving and Link quickly dropped it and unsheathed his sword. The rock seemed to be breaking, and Link gasped in surprise when he saw the head of a wyvern begin to emerge from it. Realization dawned on him as he figured they were the dragon's eggs. He quickly swung his sword and cut its head off before it could fully come out of the shell.

Link was shocked at what had happened, and even more when he realized he was surrounded by dozens and dozens of the eggs. He had had a hard time fighting a dozen of them; he would surely lose a fight against hundreds. He knew he had to act fast if he was to get out of there alive, so he quickly began surveying his surroundings. The path was completely bare of anything except the eggs, and there was nothing he could use to his advantage. His moved his gaze further up the path, where he saw the huge wall he always climbed to get to the summit. There was nothing he could use there either.

Behind him, he could hear a shuffling sound, and he looked just in time to see a couple of wyverns coming out of their eggs. He slashed at them with his sword and looked inside his pack desperately for anything he could use. He took out the longshot and looked urgently for anything to hang from, as more of the wyverns began coming out of their eggs. He shot at the wall which led to the summit, praying that he was close enough for it to reach it. To Link's horror, it stopped a couple of feet from the wall, and he knew he would have to get closer to it. He stabbed a couple of the wyverns which were getting close to him, and began a mad dash towards the wall.

He blindly cut through anything that got too close to him, and fired the longshot again. It was still too far away. He kept running, not stopping for anything, slashing through the growing crowd of wyverns. It seemed that for every one of them Link killed, three more were there to take its place. Link fired the longshot again and this time, to his relief, it managed to hit the wall, right as a half dozen of the wyverns threw themselves at him from all directions. He flew towards the wall, narrowly missing bites from the wyverns and clung to the vines growing on it, sighing in relief of barely having made it out of there alive.

The creatures didn't seem to follow him (apparently, they were unable to climb and still too young to fly), so Link took the opportunity to rest in one of the cliff's ledges. He reached into his pack and took out his canteen, taking a long drink from it. He also took out a pear and ate it hungrily. He rested there for a long time. Miraculously, he had barely been injured; he only had a bruise on his left elbow and a bite on his right leg. He felt extremely tired and leaned against the cliff wall, watching the sun set in the distance. He fell asleep sitting down, not even bothering to unpack his sleeping bag. The last thing he heard before falling asleep was a wolf howling in the distance, as the sun set and night fell on Hyrule.

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I hope you liked it! I'll try to update every weekend, most likely every Saturday. That gives me plenty of time to write the chapters and make sure they're good before posting them. Quality over quantity, right? :D


	3. Chapter 3

**The Relics of Awakening**

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Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update, I had a busy weekend and just had time to update today. This chapter was pretty fun to write, especially the fight sequence, which practically wrote itself. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 3**

Link awoke around midnight, the moon high above him and the sky filled with stars. He looked below him towards the wyverns, who were all asleep. He didn't know how long he had slept, but he felt very tired, and his body ached everywhere. Even through all the pain, he managed to stand up and pick up his things. He knew he had to continue. Every second he spent relaxing could mean Zelda's death.

He stretched a bit and kept going, clinging on to the vine-covered wall. He quickly reached the summit, brushing off the dirt which had stuck to his tunic. He looked over to the tunnel which led to Death Mountain Crater. The light of the magma shone brightly from the cave, illuminating the whole summit. Link took in a deep breath. He knew the battle before him would be a difficult one, and he felt very nervous. He unsheathed his sword, swung it at the air a couple of times, and began walking towards the crater, Master Sword in one hand, Mirror Shield in the other. He went through the tunnel slowly and cautiously, taking in his surroundings.

Death Mountain Crater was basically a huge pit of magma, surrounded by ledges on all sides. The ground was uneven, and Link knew he would have to be very careful as to not fall down towards certain doom. The walls surrounding the crater were about 200 meters in height, towering above Link as far as he could see. Link surveyed the area for dragon eggs, but he couldn't see a single one in here. Apparently, the dragon had decided to not to lay its eggs in the crater. Right in the middle of all the lava, at the center of the crater, laid the dragon sleeping.

It was like a huge version of the wyverns, except it had four legs, and much bigger wings. Smoke puffed from the creature's nostrils with every breath it took, and it snored loudly. Link relaxed a bit from knowing that the creature was asleep, and began looking for any tactic he could use to his advantage.

As the creature was sleeping on top of the lava, Link supposed it was immune to it, so that was not an option. Link supposed, though he could be able to kill it with his sword. The wyverns had been easy enough to kill, but there was no way of knowing for certain if this one had skin as weak as its offsprings's had been, so he had to be prepared in case that failed. There were some boulders which clung to the crater's walls, and Link supposed that, under the right circumstances, he could crush the creature under them boulders. He figured he could throw a bomb-arrow at the boulders, causing them to collapse on top of the dragon.

Link couldn't find any real advantages for the fight. He supposed he would have to figure out the creature's weaknesses during the fight, which made him feel a little uneasy. He hoped that since it was sleeping, he could manage to ambush the dragon, but since it was sleeping in the middle of the lava, Link had no way of getting to it.

He grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it as hard as he could. It hit the dragon square between the eyes, but it merely shuffled a bit, and kept on sleeping. He looked for a bigger rock and, once he found one, threw it again at the dragon. It hit it right in the eye, and it opened it's eye suddenly. Upon seeing Link, the dragon slowly stood up, and it opened its mouth and let out a rumbling roar which shook the very mountain.

Link was very nervous but tried not to show it, as the dragon flew towards Link, landing on the ground a couple of feet from where he was standing. The dragon towered three stories above Link, but Link stood his ground bravely, not showing any sign of fear or nervousness. Its huge black frame was awe inspiring, and Link knew this battle would be much harder than he had thought.

The dragon breathed fire from its mouth, and Link rolled out of the way of the flames. The ground where Link had been standing just moments before was now scorched and black. Link quickly fit an arrow into his bow and released it. It sailed through the air before hitting the dragon. To Link's dismay, the arrow merely bounced off the dragon's scales. He would need something stronger if he was to pierce its skin.

The dragon swiped its tail, and Link quickly ducked, the dragon's tail nearly hitting Link's head. He stabbed the dragon's tail with the Master Sword and the dragon roared in pain as blood began to flowing from the wound. Link smiled. At least the Master Sword could hurt the dragon.

The dragon was now enraged. How dare this puny creature invade its lair and try to kill her! He would pay for what he had done to her tail! It roared angrily and began breathing fire where Link was standing. Link tried to roll out of the way like he had did before but this time, the fire covered more space and his tunic caught fire on the right armsleeve. He quickly put it out, and scolded himself for not being more careful.

He rolled forward towards the dragon, and when it breathed fire again, he quickly raised the mirror shield to protect himself. The fire harmlessly bounced off the shield, and Link slashed the dragon's belly with his sword. Blood trickled off of where he had just slashed, but Link knew he would have to cause even more damage to the dragon if he was to defeat it.

The dragon was now furious at Link, and began wildly swinging its tail trying to hit Link. He merely took a couple of steps backwards, out of the dragon's reach. Link smiled inwardly. He knew he had the edge in the battle, but also knew he couldn't let his guard down again. Last time, it had been a small fire in his arm. Next time could be his whole body on fire.

Link's gaze went to the crater's wall where he saw that the boulders where right behind the dragon. He quickly took a bomb out of his bag, and ran an arrow through it. He put the bomb-arrow in his bow and carefully aimed. The dragon turned around and was ready to breathe fire on him. Link knew he had only had one shot at this. He let the arrow fly and quickly drew his Mirror Shield just in time to just barely protect himself from the flames.

Link anxiously watched the arrow fly through the air towards the boulders. Time almost seemed to stop as the arrow drew closer, closer. Link held his breath. The arrow was going to miss! It had tilted just a little to the right, but enough that it was going to miss. It collided to the right of the boulders, and they shook violently, but didn't fall down. The dragon was now swiping at Link with its claws, and he dodged its swipes skillfully.

Link began thinking of a new way to defeat the dragon. He was able to harm it with his sword, but he knew that he wasn't doing enough damage to actually beat it that way. Right now he focused on dodging the dragon's attack, but Link knew he couldn't keep doing that forever. Eventually, Link's body began aching, and his movements became clumsier and slower, and the dragon's swipes hit him in several places.

Link knew that if he was to defeat the dragon, he would have to end the battle right now. He waited for the dragon to take a swipe, and dodged it by ducking. He took the opening to roll towards the dragon. This caught the dragon off guard, as it had become too overconfident that it was winning and had let its guard down. Link took the chance to jump towards the dragon, then grabbing on to its head and mounting himself on its back.

The dragon felt fear. For the first time in its life, it was scared of being killed. And by a puny human! He began wildly shaking, trying to get Link off of its back, but Link held himself firmly to it. The dragon took to the air, flying erratically and wildly. Link kept holding on to the dragon, and began crawling towards its head.

As the dragon kept trying to shake Link off of him that it didn't even notice as it was about to crash towards on the crater's walls. It tried to swerve upwards but was too late. It hit the wall at an amazing speed, breaking several of its bones and falling towards the ground. Link had miraculously remained intact and finally dismounted the dragon. It was still alive but barely. Link approached the dragon's head and found him clinging to consciousness.

The dragon was too weak to do anything more than look at Link. It knew it had been defeated, and simply closed its eyes and waited for Link to finish it off. Link held the Master Sword firmly with both hands. "You were a worthy opponent. I'm sorry I have to kill you. I really am." Link said, burying the sword in the dragon's head. The dragon tensed up for a second and then slumped, finally dead.

Link took the sword out of the dragon's head and sighed sadly. He hated having to take this creature's life, but knew he had no choice. "Congratulations, Hero of Time." a voice behind Link said. Not recognizing the voice, Link turned to face whoever had spoken.

"Who are you?" Link asked the figure, who was hidden in the shadows. Link couldn't see anything about him except that he was wearing a black robe, with the hood on.

"My name isn't important. If you want to save Zelda, you'll need several special ingredients. The first of which is, conveniently, dragon's blood."

"How do you know all this?"

"Again, that is not important. You want to save Zelda or not?"

Link wasn't exactly sure whether to trust this mysterious figure or not, but had no choice. "Alright, go on."

"As I was saying, the first ingredient is dragon's blood."

"And the second one?"

"That, Hero of Time, is up to you to figure out."

"And how am I supposed to figure it out?"

The figure merely chuckled, before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke, leaving Link alone once more alone in the cavern.

Link took out a healing potion from his bag and drank it. He didn't exactly need it, but he needed and empty bottle to carry the dragon's blood. He approached the dragon and put the bottle under one of its wounds. He let a couple of drops of blood to fall into the bottle before finally closing its lid firmly and putting it back in its his pack.

He exited the crater and looked down at the path he had taken to get in here. The wyverns all lay dead, and Link supposed it was the work of the figure which had approached him. At least he wouldn't have to worry about them. He yawned tiredly, and slowly began the long descent towards Kakariko Village.

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I hope you liked this week's update! As you can see, the story is finally beginning to unfold. I'll try to be on time for this week's update, so stay tuned.


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